Rebirth 99 to become a car giant.

Chapter 480: Various car companies are vying for the limelight, some are happy and some are worried

Many financial data of Nanshan Group are a secret to outsiders, but to some people in Yangcheng and Lingnan Province, it is not really a secret.

After all, Nanshan Group must provide financial statements to the tax bureau every year.

And Cao Yang has never supported having two sets of ledgers.

So basically the information Liu Tianwu obtained from the tax bureau was relatively accurate.

Of course, you can only see some blunt data there, and naturally you cannot see some of the meanings and future plans behind these data.

Liu Tianwu wanted to attend the summary meeting of Nanshan Group, and Cao Yang agreed after thinking about it.

The company has grown to its current size, and it is no longer just his own business.

Everyone will also worry about whether Nanshan Group will encounter some difficulties in its development.

Of course, so far, everything about Nanshan Group is going very well.

And just when the conference officially started, many car companies began to grab the limelight.

The better a car company sells, the more aggressive it will be when announcing its monthly sales.

On the contrary, companies with poor sales are coyly trying to drag themselves to the back so that no one will pay attention to them.

1月1日凌晨三十分，奇瑞汽车就在自己的官微上发布了2008年12月的销量，以及2008年全年的销量。

Following closely behind, Geely, Great Wall and Changan Automobile also released their 1 production and sales figures on January 1.

Of course, some joint venture car companies with good sales are also very active in releasing sales data.

Although the final sales volume for the whole year of 2008 has not yet been released, judging from the previous sales volume from January to November, among China's independent brand car companies, five companies have entered the top 1 sales.

The top three are probably Modu GM, Spring City Volkswagen, and Modu Volkswagen.

But the gap with the back has become smaller and smaller.

Especially the North and South Volkswagen, which used to be far ahead.

This year, however, it barely exceeded 40 units, which is tens of thousands less than No. 1 GM.

This result is definitely not ideal for Volkswagen.

"Strauss, Audi has been completely surpassed by Xingchen Motors in China this year."

"Our entire Volkswagen sales target in China in 2008 was 100 million units, but now we have only achieved 82 units."

"Not only did the sales of Audi cars not increase, but they actually declined slightly compared to last year. The full-year sales relied on inventory reduction in December to barely hold on to the 12-unit figure."

"Although affected by the financial crisis last year, the development speed of the global automobile industry was different from what was expected at the beginning of the year. However, the overall growth rate of China's automobile market is still higher than ours, and even several automobile companies such as Chery, Geely, Great Wall, Changan, and BYD Sales volume has also crossed the 30 mark."

"If this trend continues, they may pose a huge threat to our sales in a few years."

"Among the top ten, apart from Modu General Motors, Spring City Volkswagen and Modu Volkswagen, there are only five joint venture car companies, Spring City Toyota and Zephyr Nissan."

"Even car companies such as Yangcheng Honda, Changan Ford and Didu Hyundai have been squeezed out by China's own brands."

"This situation was completely unimaginable four or five years ago."

As the general manager of Volkswagen China, Vondel's current mood is not beautiful at all.

Whether your grades are good or not is often determined by comparison.

When your competitors are down by more than ten or tens of percent, even if you are down by a few points, your performance is still excellent.

On the contrary, your competitors are all growing by [-] to [-]%, but as a result, you only increase by a few points, or even drop by a few points, then you will not be able to achieve this result no matter what.

"The situation in China is indeed a bit bad, and it all has something to do with Nanshan Group."

"In the past, Chinese self-branded models from Chery, Geely and Great Wall sold at much lower prices than ours, but due to frequent quality problems, their reputation was not very good. Many middle-class people would not consider self-owned brands when buying cars. .”

"But after the emergence of Nanshan Group, it provided the two most critical components of engines and gearboxes to those independent brand car companies, so that their quality problems were solved to a large extent at once."

"Especially for car companies that purchase complete engines and gearboxes directly from Nanshan Group, it is basically rare to hear related complaints on the market."

"This accumulation and fermentation of word-of-mouth has played a positive role in promoting the sales of those car companies."

"Our brand premium has also become less pronounced."

"Fondel, I think we should consider lowering the price?"

"The prices of cars in China are still much more expensive than overseas. We can also promote more measures to reduce procurement costs, thereby providing more room for price reductions."

"Otherwise, I'm worried that the sales volume in 2009 will not increase significantly compared to 2008."

Strauss now has no particularly good solution, so he is thinking about whether he can lower the price.

As long as the price is in place, sales will definitely increase.

In particular, many models of the Audi brand are on the same platform as Volkswagen, and many parts are shared.

However, the price difference is quite large, and there is definitely room for further price reductions.

"Although direct price reduction is also a solution, it is not a good thing for brand influence."

"We can change our thinking slightly and launch more domestically produced models. We can use the opportunity of localization of models to lower prices. We can also claim to the outside world that we are giving back to users for their continued support."

Vondel naturally knows that lowering prices can boost sales, but lowering prices also means making less money.

As the general manager of China Region, he is not only responsible for sales, but also for profitability.

If more cars are sold, the profit will be less.

Then he has no way to communicate with the headquarters.

"The Audi brand can achieve this goal by launching more domestically produced models, but for the Volkswagen brand, what we can do is relatively limited, right?"

"That's not necessarily the case. We can report the rapid development of the SUV market in China to the headquarters and recommend that the headquarters introduce more SUV models as soon as possible."

"Small, compact, medium, medium and large, and large SUVs, we all need to be talented."

"According to the analysis of Autohome's article, the growth rate of SUV models will continue to be higher than that of cars in the future, until the market share of SUV models is close to that of cars."

"So far, Volkswagen's brand recognition in China is relatively high, and it cannot be matched by local Chinese car brands such as Chery and Geely."

"We must fully seize this opportunity and increase our market share as much as possible."

Vondel's current sense of crisis is also very strong.

There is no way, the Chinese automobile market is changing too fast.

If he doesn't act in time, many actions will not keep up with the development.

"This plan is feasible. Audi and others also need to launch more SUV models."

"However, it will take a certain amount of time to produce the model. The problem now is that we will have a hard time in 2009."

"The situation at the headquarters is not very good. I hope that China can perform well."

As soon as Strauss said these words, Vondel felt uncomfortable.

He also understands this.

But for the moment, he really didn't have much else to do.

We can only consider launching more marketing measures.

However, while people at Volkswagen are very troubled, various independent brand car companies are smiling happily.

In particular, Chery Automobile's sales this year reached 38 units, second only to GM and Nanshan Volkswagen, setting a new record for its own brands.

"Mr. Yin, it seems that our domestic market and export market are developing at the same time, and the plan to launch more models for consumers to choose from is completely correct."

"Although the number of cars exported dropped significantly due to the impact of the financial crisis after September this year, the export market also contributed more than 9 orders to us throughout the year."

"If there were no export market, we might not even be in the top 10."

Wang Ze is in a very good mood now.

Although the situation of Chery Automobile has not been so good in the past few months, looking at the results for the whole year of 2008, it is still worth celebrating.

"In the domestic market, QQ has contributed more than 10,000 vehicles to us, and Tiggo has contributed nearly [-] vehicles. The performance of other models is not particularly good."

"Especially compared to Great Wall Motors and Changan Automobile, their SUV sales are higher than ours."

"In the future, it is necessary for us to further launch more SUV models."

Chery Automobile also communicated with Nanshan Group before, and after listening to the other party's proposal, the status of SUVs within the company was greatly improved.

But compared with Great Wall Motors and Changan Automobile, they still don't pay much attention to SUVs.

After all, until now, the sales of SUV models account for less than half of Chery Automobile's product mix.

As for Great Wall Motors, Changan Automobile, and even Yangcheng Trumpchi, the SUV sales of these car companies account for 70% or even higher.

"That's true. SUVs are quite powerful."

"The entire automotive market was in decline in the last few months of the year, especially the export market."

"But Tiggo's sales have stabilized, which fully demonstrates that SUVs are still relatively competitive."

Wang Ze naturally hopes that the company will launch as many models as possible.

As the head of the sales department, with one more car, sales are expected to rise to a higher level.

"Go back and carefully analyze the performance of each car company last year, and then discuss it with the research institute to see what new model will be more suitable for the next step."

The company has developed to this point, and has gone through the process of making decisions based on brainstorming.

Many times, Yin Chuan hopes to make some decisions based on the data compiled by the people below.

The same discussion is also taking place at Geely Automobile.

"Mr. Li, in addition to Xingchen Motors in China, Chery Automobile and Great Wall Motors are constantly exploring overseas markets and have achieved good results."

"Half of Xingchen Automobile's sales are contributed by the export market, and almost [-]% of Chery Automobile's share is exported overseas."

"I think the company also needs to pay more attention to overseas markets and increase the proportion of exported cars to at least the same level as Chery Automobile."

<divclass="contentadv">"As long as we can do this, it is not surprising that our sales can easily exceed 40, and even surpass the North and South Volkswagen."

Peng Lin's mood is a bit complicated today.

Geely Automobile's annual sales in 2008 reached 31 vehicles, which is a good thing and has set a historical record.

But compared with Chery Automobile, the results are not so impressive.

Mainly, the sales of Great Wall, Changan and BYD are similar to Geely Automobile, and their sales rankings may undergo drastic changes every month.

After much deliberation, Peng Lin felt that he should find some share from the export market.

Compared with local car companies in Europe, the United States, Japan, Korea and other places, Geely Automobile has no advantage.

But compared with South America, America and northern countries, Geely Automobile's models are still quite competitive.

The price is cheap and the quality is decent.

There is no reason why Chery Automobile is selling well but no one wants Geely Automobile.

"The export market is performing better than we thought, and it is indeed a market worth paying attention to."

"After the year, the company can consider poaching some people from Chery and Great Wall who are engaged in international business to expand our international market as much as possible."

Li Su knew that Peng Lin's analysis was reasonable, so he agreed without any hesitation.

"No problem. Chery Automobile's salary has never been high. I think we should be able to recruit a group of people."

"However, some configurations and regulations for models exported overseas should be different from those in China. Other relevant departments also need to move simultaneously."

It’s not that Geely Auto doesn’t have export business, it just hasn’t started it yet.

Therefore, Peng Lin still understands some basic common sense about exporting cars.

"Let's do this. The company will set up a separate international business department, and you will temporarily serve as the director of this department."

"All matters related to export business can be coordinated and handled by the International Business Department to develop this market as soon as possible."

"Now that the financial crisis is having an increasing impact overseas, many consumers will become more price-sensitive when buying cars."

"So although the overseas export business may not be very prosperous in these few months, it may be an opportunity for us."

Li Su's vision is still very different.

I immediately saw the opportunity in the crisis.

"No problem. I will go back and sort out the organizational structure of the International Business Department later and report to you as soon as possible."

Peng Lin was overjoyed.

Unexpectedly, the company actually established a new international business department, and also made myself the director.

This department gives the impression that it belongs to the vice president level.

Invisibly, my status in the company has been raised to a higher level.

……

"Mr. Zhu, the popularity of domestic SUVs is very high now. If our HS5 can achieve annual sales of [-] units after it is launched, Nanshan Hongqi will be completely successful."

"Half of the car companies on the sales list last year were self-owned brand car companies, which shows that consumers' recognition of self-owned brands is increasing."

"Compared with other independent brands, our Hongqi brand has certain advantages in terms of brand power."

"As long as the operation is completed, it should bring surprises to everyone."

Tao Wen knew that Zhu Zhengfeng was very concerned about the sales rankings.

So I reported it to him as soon as I knew the news.

"The development of independent brands is quite fast, but the sales volume of Spring City Volkswagen is a bit unsatisfactory."

"Fortunately, Spring City Toyota's sales growth this year is not bad, and the sales volume of the entire group is still increasing."

"Otherwise, the sales of Xifeng Automobile Group, Modu Automobile Group, Didu Automobile Group, and even Yangcheng Automobile Group are increasing, while the sales of our Spring City Automobile Group are declining. It would be too ugly."

As the general manager of Spring City Automobile Group, although Zhu Zhengfeng is most concerned about the situation at Nanshan Hongqi, he is also very concerned about the development of other joint ventures.

After all, those are cash cows.

Spring City Automobile Group wants to develop various businesses, and it will definitely not be possible without Spring City Volkswagen and Spring City Toyota contributing profits.

After all, as the first domestic car company, Spring City Automobile Group actually has a heavy burden.

"The reputation of self-owned brands is now gradually improving, and consumers will no longer think that they are cheap models with poor quality when they mention self-owned brands."

"According to this development trend, I think the market share of independent brands will soon increase to 50%."

"Of course, the premise is that these car companies must be able to stabilize, otherwise it will be difficult to say."

Tao Wen's mentality is relatively optimistic. She feels that independent brands still have a lot of room for development.

Looking around the world, whether it is the United States, Japan, Germany or France, as long as there is a relatively sound domestic automobile industry, the sales volume of independent brands will not be less than 50%.

Even the sales volume of independent brands can reach 80%.

However, when we arrived in China, the situation became very different.

"The heritage of international automobile giants such as Volkswagen, Toyota, and General Motors cannot be underestimated."

"Now the prices are relatively high, so the sales of self-owned brand models are better."

"If people lower the price appropriately, then maybe the situation will be completely different."

"Not to mention other car companies, just Spring City Volkswagen and Spring City Toyota, which company's profit margin is less than 10%?"

“Even models such as the Audi A6L and Magotan have yields of over 20%.”

"This situation is very different from the development of the global automobile industry."

"If you take a casual look at the financial reports of various international automobile giants, you will find that the general rate of return is within 10%, and even around 5% is the majority."

"Based on this rate of return, if these international automobile giants do not take any cost reduction measures, there will still be almost 10% room for price reduction."

"If they cut off more suppliers, maybe there will be no problem in reducing prices by 20%."

"At that time, do you think the sales of independent brand car companies can continue to rise like they are now?"

Zhu Zhengfeng was not blindly optimistic.

It is definitely not okay to underestimate your opponent too much.

If someone can survive in the fiercely competitive market for decades or even hundreds of years, it must be someone's unique skill.

If it was really so easy to be defeated by you, then they would probably have gone out of business long ago.

I can’t wait for you to defeat it.

"That's true. Car prices in China are still too high now."

"The same Toyota RAV4 sells for RMB 30 to RMB 10,000 in China, but when converted into RMB in the United States, it only costs RMB [-]+."

"Although half of the impact is taxes and fees, it is definitely not clear to explain this difference solely by taxes and fees."

"However, if Volkswagen, Toyota and other car companies choose to sell at lower prices, it will also be a pressure for us."

"This means that the group's earnings will fall in the future."

Tao Wen said a little worried.

For large domestic automobile groups, the main income is contributed by joint ventures.

Whether it is Spring City Automobile Group or Xifeng Automobile Group, or Modu Automobile Group and Didu Automobile Group, no one is exception.

To a certain extent, it may be because it is too easy for these automobile groups to make money relying on joint ventures, so they are not very motivated and have a low sense of crisis.

"Forgetting all that, the top priority is to mass-produce Nanshan Hongqi's new models as soon as possible."

"By then, if Nanshan Hongqi can reach an annual sales volume of more than 30 like Chery and Geely, then our pressure will be much less."

Following Zhu Zhengfeng's idea, Nanshan Hongqi started the overtime mode for all employees.

Things that used to take a week to complete are now worked overtime and compressed, requiring everyone to complete them in two or three days.

The purchasing department even specially arranged for many people to travel to the supplier's site and watch them work overtime to produce molds and prepare equipment.

Once this person is rolled up, the changes are very exaggerated.

Even Cao Yang, who was far away in Yangcheng, heard some news.

Of course, that's another story.

At this moment, everyone's attention began to be attracted by a news on Autohome.

[Nanshan Group will hold its 2008 summary meeting tomorrow]

This matter seems very boring, and ordinary consumers should not have much interest in this news.

But for people in the automotive industry, it's a different story.

Nanshan Group is the leading company in China's automobile industry.

Whether it is in the production of complete vehicles or the sales of auto parts, they have a crushing advantage.

Especially in terms of some core technologies, to put it bluntly, other domestic car companies combined do not have as much control as Nanshan Group.

Under this circumstance, everyone wants to know how Nanshan Group developed last year and how it will develop next.

After all, the impact of the financial crisis is getting bigger and bigger, seeming to add a layer of fog before everyone's eyes.

Many people have no idea what will happen after the fog.